For the first time, researchers have found pieces of amber from a sedimentary basin off the coast of Antarctica.
A piece of amber in the Cretaceous lignite rock layer off the coast of Antarctica. Image: Alfred Wegener Institute / V. Schumacher
With the new discovery, researchers have now obtained amber specimens from every continent, and they can learn more information about the Antarctic forests where dinosaurs once lived, according to public research. published on November 12 in the journal Antarctic Science. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were very high in the Cretaceous period, causing the world to become warmer. Additionally, the absence of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current meant greater climate gradients in Antarctica, allowing vast forests to grow there, becoming home to both dinosaurs and mammals.
However, scientists do not know much about the nature of these forests and the animals that live in them because it is difficult to access the fossil-bearing layer. One method is to drill the seabed off the coast of Antarctica and a research team led by Dr. Johann Klages of the Alfred Wegener Institute drilled off Pine Island in the Amundsen Sea. Inside the 5 cm thick layer of lignite (wet coal), the team found pieces of hardened tree resin called amber. Based on the age and composition of the lignite, this amber is estimated to be 83 – 92 million years old and came from a swamp forest consisting mainly of pine trees.
Many tree species secrete sap when their bark is destroyed. Some tree resins, especially pine trees, fossilize under the right conditions, preserving insects, feathers and dinosaur tails. Researchers once obtained amber fossils from the same period in southern Australia, when it was still associated with Antarctica. Located at nearly 74 degrees south latitude and 107 degrees west longitude, the new find is the furthest south amber sample ever discovered.
“Analysis of amber pieces will allow a direct understanding of the environmental conditions that prevailed in West Antarctica 90 million years ago,” Klages said. “Our goal now is to learn more about forest ecosystems.”
The team crushed the lignite for analysis and the remaining pieces of amber were very small, only 0.5 – 1 mm wide, so the possibility of finding any form of life preserved intact inside was very slim. strong. However, experts discovered many microscopic pieces of tree bark inside the piece of amber. According to Klages’ team, tree sap can flow during a forest fire, being stored when water covers the area and protects it from ultraviolet rays. The fact that the piece of amber exists and remains transparent proves that it was never buried at a great depth and heated until it partially melted. The location of the discovery prompted the team to create a new category of Pine Island amber.